----* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''[='=] second season gives Dinobot a major role in two or three episodes leading up to "Code of Hero" where he's seen at his best, and then bites it at the end.** Seeing as season two of ''Beast Wars'' had 12 episodes, those three episodes do form 1/4 of the entire season, so it may not be a negligible amount of time.* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' used this trope in Season Six's episode "'Round Springfield". Bleeding Gums Murphy, the jazz musician who Lisa met in an early episode in the first season, faded into the background quickly (showing up here and there in crowd scenes for a while) and was almost forgotten until he appeared in the hospital in this episode. There, he tells Lisa his whole [[BelatedBackStory previously unrevealed back story]], about how he was a successful jazz musician who made a guest appearance on the Cosby show, and doing a saxophone duet with Lisa. Lisa goes off to school and wins a talent competition, and then returns to the hospital to be told Bleeding Gums has passed away. This occurs in the middle of the episode, and the rest of it revolves around Lisa's quest to arrange a tribute to him. After she succeeds, Bleeding Gums Murphy's ghost appears in the clouds in a parody of ''Disney/TheLionKing'' ([[Creator/JamesEarlJones Mufasa, Darth Vader, and the CNN announcer briefly interrupt]]), and they have one last saxophone duet over the end credits before Bleeding Gums heads off for his afterlife date with Billie Holiday.* The ''JusticeLeague'' episode "The Terror Beyond". Beforehand, Solomon Grundy was TheBrute and DumbMuscle with no motivation beyond greed. In this episode, Grundy's backstory is revealed, and he's given a very sympathetic motivation to fight alongside the good guys. Naturally, he dies fighting Icthultu and many tears are shed over him. One of his powers is the ability to come BackFromTheDead, which was the whole reason he agreed to come along, as a HumanSacrifice was needed to defeat Ichthultu and someone like Grundy was going to present less of a moral dilemma to that end. He returns for an episode of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' but has CameBackWrong and devolved into TheBerserker and has to be killed by AntiMagic, again PlayedForDrama. Given the manner of his death, its not clear if he will again return from the grave or was finally KilledOffForReal, but regardless he does not reappear in the series again.* Nabu was introduced in Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' as Aisha's love interest [[SatelliteLoveInterest ...and that's all]]. However, the final episodes of season 4 focused on him a lot, showing his sheer badassery, to the point of beating one of the four {{Big Bad}}s all by himself. Shortly after that, he performed an HeroicSacrifice.* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Kenny, although always part of the main cast, barely had any effect on the plot up until "Kenny Dies", after which he is killed off ([[DeathIsCheap for a season]]).----